Negative campaign ads can continue, judge rules

Published 6:00 pm, Sunday, February 24, 2008

A pro-gambling group can resume advertisements targeting an incumbent state lawmaker, a Travis County judge ruled Monday.

State District Judge Scott Jenkins dissolved a temporary order granted Friday that had ordered the Texans for Economic Development political action committee to pull attack ads targeting Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde.

At issue is whether the group, which represents horse- and dog-racing interests, illegally accepted corporate money when it built a $1 million war chest for the 2008 legislative races.

The racing group has been airing a television spot and sending direct mail to voters attacking Macias.

Macias' lawyer charged that the group is "using these illegally obtained corporate funds in an unlawful manner to defame" the legislator.

Tommy Azopardi, the racing group's executive director, denied that the $51,000 in corporate donations was accepted as part of the $1 million political advertising budget, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its online edition Monday. He said it should have been reported for the committee's overhead. The group's campaign finance reports have since been corrected to report the corporate donations as administrative contributions, which is legal.

Macias' attorneys argued that in this case it was illegal for the political committee to accept any corporate money.

Macias is in a battle with former New Braunfels Mayor Doug Miller for the Republican nomination to represent House District 73, which includes Bandera, Comal, Gillespie and Kendall counties.

Miller's consultant Craig Murphy said the campaign has accepted no contributions from the racing group and has not coordinated advertising efforts with it.

Texans for Economic Development is also running commercials targeting state Reps. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and Betty Brown, R-Athens. Those campaigns were not affected by the temporary order.